Hi All

By tackroom was broken into last night and I had two briddals, two saddles (with their cinches) and a breast plate stolen last night. IF anyone who lives in the Burton on Trent area heres of anyone trying to sell and western tack please let me know.
The adult saddle is large to fit a shire horse is a circle y saddle, well used ( i have had it about 7 years) it has a scratch down one side matching breast pate and bridal. they all have tooled edges, and are tan. It has a dark brown weaver cinch.
The other saddle is a childs light tan saddle with a borwn suede set to fit a miniature pony.

If anyone has any information please contact me a reward would be offered for their safe return. Thanks

This is always my worst nightmare. No matter how secure you make the tack room, people still can get into it. Good luck tracing your items, they sound different enough for people to notice.

What a bugger!  I agree it would be your worst nightmare.  Are you insured?  I had my trailer stolen a couple of years back in Aus and although they have trailer tax and numberplates we still never got it back and it was brand new!  So i know how you feel.  Wish you every luck in recovering your tack. 

My friend had her horse stolen last year ( a coloured cob type), she had owned this horse for 18 years and was really upset. She and her father drove all over the country, going to all horse sales and putting up notices everywhere, including magazines. They got a call about 6 months later from a girl who read a notice in a horse mag and thought she was taking riding lessons on this horse!

They went to check it out and sure enough it was their horse. The yard owner had bought it from a sale, but it had been bought and sold several times already. Instead of going to court over getting him returned, they just ended up buying him back. The other horse that was in the same field when he was stolen (a T was also taken and never recovered.

This was in Worcester, very close to home! Even though I have all my horses microchipped, that does not alway help.

We had our car stolen last August (not from our house but in Birminham) and that was a nightmare of insurance claims and purchasing a new car, etc. Car never recovered.

People just don't think of all the heartache they can cause - as well as hassle. B******s

HI All

Thanks for your comments and support. I am insured though not sure even though it was all locked up in a tack safe and a locked tackroom if my locks were up to my insurance companies standards. So I will have to wait and see. The police don't seem that hopful on recovery but as it is western tack I am hoping that it will be difficult to sell on.....so if anyone hears of a circle Y flexi tree saddle the original one in a 17 inch seat with tooling on and a scratch on the rightside about 6 inches long (i caught a button on the leather when I got off) it also have a 36 inch weaver brown felt cinch too. Please let me know.

The good news is that my hose and two ponies all seem to be fiine for the experience. So that is good news!!!!

Hi there,

When I was a police officer I used to check the local horse sales for stolen/dodgy tack. Without stating the obvious I would look to see if there are any sales coming up in your vicinity.

Also check Ebay over the next few months- you never know, plus the "Yeller" type free ads magazines and websites.

Not wishing to stereotype we often found the travelling community to be a good source of info and a fruitful hunting ground.

One issue for all to bear in mind however is that although stolen items are often recovered, the police require proof of the item being yours- eg. serial numbers, postcodes, photos of scratches/cuts in the leather etc.

In addition, I was horrified to discover that my local auction DID NOT scan each horse for a microchip, or even ring up Farmkey and verify freeze brands!!! I saw one horse- a late entry for the sales just turn up an hour prior to the auction and go straight in. He literally looked like he had been dragged straight out of the field and into the ring.

I voiced my disgust in an official capacity to Farmkey and the Identichip company (whos' offices were just down the road from the auction house)! They were extremely concerned that their services were being undermined, allegedly due to lack of staff or time at the sales. Whether the situation has improved or not I just couldn't say.

I also find it unlikely that horse passports have really helped any, as they could be applied for at the ringside at that time.

So:

* Freezebrand and microchip horses if you can
* Postcode tack in an unobtrusive spot
* Take tack etc home with you if you can to keep it safe
* Post code rugs etc
* Farmkey offer a trailer ID service- well worth it.
* Take pics of all your valubles and horses/trailers- front/side/back views
* Don't assume that Police Officers are horsey in any way! If you can, request an officer with some horse knowledge/horsewatch (if you are lucky)- my control room often asked me to go to horsey incidents!
* Ensure that the officer taking the crime report has the spelling of your items correct- if stuff is recovered they search their databases and a typo will mean your details are missed eg "Stuben" for "Stubben".

Good luck,

Claire